104th annual Purdue Road School

Thousands of people will make their way to West Lafayette for Purdue's annual Road School Transportation Conference and Expo. This will be the 104th year for the event.

Posted: Mar. 5, 2018 6:42 PM

Updated: Mar. 5, 2018 6:46 PM

Posted By: Demie Johnson

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) — Thousands of people will make their way to West Lafayette for Purdue's annual Road School Transportation Conference and Expo. This will be the 104th year for the event.

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Professionals and politicians, will show up and share knowledge about the transportation field.

This year's road school includes sessions on drones and autonomous vehicles.

Purdue grad and current chief technical officer at Cummins Incorporated Jennifer Rumsey will be the keynote speaker. Other guests include Indiana Department of Transportation Commissioner Joe McGuinness and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Tippecanoe County Highway Department Executive Director, Stewart Kline said he's most excited to learn more about preserving short-span bridges.

"That applies directly to our county, we have a lot of bridges under 120 foot long and it talks about what is the best way to approach those as far as keeping them in service," said Kline.

Funding bridge infrastructure is something being discussed at the federal level.

West Lafayette City Engineer, Ed Garrison said hearing opinions from people all across the state helps improve projects locally.

"What's new what's out there what's being done in other places, success stories failures," said Garrison.